The binding resolution of disputes by one or more neutral persons (usually called arbitrators ), as a substitute for judicial proceedings;
may be invoked only by agreement of the parties to the dispute, but such agreement
may be arrived at before there is an actual dispute,
as, for example, through a clause in a contract
between them, or after a dispute has
arisen. Arbitration proceedings characteristically are less formal than those in court, and the rules of evidence and most rules of substantive law that would be invoked by a court are not applied.